Daughter of Insanity
by Elemental Awesomeness
Summary: The story of Azula's daughter, Aria, a child scorned because of her mother's reputation. This details her journey and how she conquers adversity.
1. Chapter 1

**AU: It is highly unlikely that Azula would fall in love with an inmate at the asylum, but what if she did? POV's change throughout the story, I don't own ATLA characters. **

Azula hated this place, she hated being cooped in the loony bin. Her mantra was "I hate this place" over and over again. However she caught another cute patient's eye, Zane's. She felt a fluttering in her heart whenever she saw him. Zane finally got the courage to talk to Azula because apparently he had feelings for her as well. He felt that Azula softened his rough edges. The two always met up together when the patients were let out for exercise. Oftentimes they would sneak out to a secret hideout to kiss and make out.

"I hate the stupid meditating crap they make us do," Azula said intertwining her fingers with Zane's.

"I know, it's not like we can breathe our problems away," he agreed. Zane squeezed her hand and kissed her neck lovingly. "Mmm," he said.

Azula playfully pushed him away. "What? I don't get a kiss?" he teased. Azula laughed and turned to kiss him.

They stayed like that the remainder of the time. Every day whenever they could they shared affections. One night Zane and Azula snuck off to Zane's room. Zane's groin tightened at the sight of his lover. He kissed Azula full on the mouth. Zane ran his hands up Azula's shirt finally pulling it off of her. Azula ran her hands over Zane's bare chest finally making her way down to his pants. She undid the drawstring.

One morning Azula felt sick to her stomach and kept throwing up. "Ugh I don't feel good," she said. Zane wrapped his arms around Azula and gave her a chaste kiss on the neck. Azula responded by giving him a blazing kiss on the lips. Zane wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her down to the bed.

"I hope you're not catching anything," he said.

Azula waited for her period but it never came. A horrible thought came to her mind, I can't be...A few days later she was convinced.

"You really are?" Zane asked. Azula nodded, _this is the part where he is going to leave me_ she thought miserably. "I'm happy for us, we're going to be parents. I just don't like the idea of my child being born in a mental house."

An unsettling thought plagued Azula. The mental hospital was no place to raise a child and she didn't know how she would keep her pregnancy hidden from the doctors. Zane supported Azula and would massage her feet and neck. He spent days rubbing her belly lovingly and whispering comforting words in her ear.

One very early morning around 2AM while Azula was in the bathroom she felt excruciating pains her abdomen. Her water broke, "Please not now," she said bending over and sitting down against the wall. Contractions started coming rapidly so Azula had to spend quite a while pushing. An excruciating two hours later Azula pulled the child out from between her legs. She stared at the slimy, screaming, naked infant and thought _I'm a mother now_. Cutting the cord, Azula discovered her child was female. She found a towel to wrap her child in and then sat against the wall cradling her daughter against her breast. "Shh" Azula soothed rocking her daughter back and forth. The child quieted down and lifted a curled hand. The fingers wrapped around Azula's big finger.

"Wow, she's beautiful," Zane said looking at his daughter's face.

"I had her this morning," Azula said.

"What?"

"I went into labor this morning."

"Are you in pain?" Zane asked.

"My groin hurts," Azula groaned.

"Can I hold her?" Zane asked. Azula handed him the child. Zane held her awkwardly.

"Support her head," Azula said adjusting his hands.

"Wow you're a natural at this mothering thing," Zane said making Azula blush. "So how long are you going to be able to keep her a secret from the other patients and the doctors?" Zane asked cradling his daughter.

"I don't know. I'm scared they'll take her away from me. Anyway she needs to be with me so I can nurse her," Azula responded.

"Have you thought about a name for her?" Zane asked.

"Aria" Azula responded.


	2. Chapter 2

It was difficult to keep Aria's existence a secret but the couple managed to do so for some time. However they suspected something wrong with their child.

"Aria, look at mommy sweetie," Azula coaxed. Aria didn't usually respond. She also wouldn't make any attempts to babble. "I think there is something wrong with her," Azula said to Zane.

"Why?" Zane asked setting Aria on his lap.

"She doesn't always respond to my voice and hasn't started babbling," Azula said leaning against Zane.

"Maybe she will grow out of it not every child grows at the same time," Zane suggested helpfully.

Azula got a seductive gleam in her eye. "You know we haven't had a little action since Aria was born." Zane grinned from ear to ear.

Azula and Zane were able to keep Aria's existence a secret until one day. During leisure hours when the inmates were allowed out of their rooms a mean looking woman approached Azula.

"I know your little secret," she stated hands on hips.

"I don't know what you're talking about, nor do I care," Azula replied calmly.

"I discovered an infant's umbilical cord in the trash and you were supposedly sick around that same time," the woman hissed pinning Azula to the ground. "I know your reputation around here. The fallen princess, you're a disgrace to the fire nation and it's no surprise how messed up your bastard is being raised by the most toxic woman in the world."

That did it, Azula kicked the woman in the face.

"Don't talk about my child," she hissed holding a fist of fire at the woman's face.

A crowd began to gather. "Hey! Stop that," someone called. Some people pulled Azula and the other woman apart.

"What is this fighting all about? Who started this?" a guard demanded.

"She is the one who began it. She's been hiding an illegitimate child for the past 9 months right under your noses. You can bet she can't keep her legs closed," the woman said.

The guard dragged Azula away to her room where her child was. "Please don't take my child away," Azula begged, but no one listened.

"We'll give you 5 minutes," one of the guards said. They closed the door.

Aria was sitting on the floor playing with the blanket wearing only a makeshift diaper because of the fire nation heat. She made no response to her mother's entrance. _How can I get through to you?_ Azula thought.

"Aria, come to mommy, sweetie," she coaxed trying to hold back tears. Thankfully this was one of the few times Aria did respond. She crawled into her mother's lap and looked at her with big brown eyes.

"Mommy has to be away from you for awhile." Something in the child's eyes shifted, but kept her gaze on Azula.

"I will come back for you someday when everything is sorted out," the tears were gathering in Azula's eyes.

Aria got the idea that her mother was going away for awhile and buried her face in Azula's neck. She let out a few unhappy noises. The tears Azula was holding back gushed forth. "I don't want to be separated from you. Mommy loves you so much, never forget."

The child was handed to a nurse and started to wail as she was carried away. Aria's cries tore Azula's heart. The doctors suspected something wrong with the child. The child was deemed mute and mentally slow. They drew up a birth certificate and wrote 'ILLEGITIMATE' in big characters. The staff decided to place the child in a remote orphanage to be rid of it. As for Zane he had dropped out of sight and allegedly escaped abandoning Azula. The fallen princess sank even deeper into insanity.


	3. Chapter 3

AU: We are introduced to Aria and see how other people treat her.

7 years

_My name is Aria. I am 7 years old. My mother left me here for awhile, but I know she will come back. There is something inside me that tells me that she will come back later. I was born in a mental asylum on October 20th. I have not spoken a word since birth. _A 7 year old sat on an old rickety bed in a room with many other kids. She stared up at the full moon and wondered _when will you come back for me, mother? _

Azula sat arms crossed over her chest a plate of food sat before her. The nurse tried to coax her to eat.

"Azula you need to eat or else you're going to die."

"I don't want it," Azula said like a pouty child.

The nurse gave up and left, leaving the tray of food behind. Azula curled up into a ball and cried.

"How is she doing today?" the doctor asked.

"The usual refused to eat her food, cried," the nurse replied. "The poor dear misses her baby."

There wasn't a day that went by where Azula didn't think of Aria. She missed the familiar tug at her breast whenever Aria nursed. There seemed to be permanent tear stains on Azula's face. It didn't help when Zuko brought Ursa to see her. Azula snapped that her mother may as well give up on her hoping that she would get better.

Zuko in turn snapped back, "What is wrong with you? How can you be so cruel and unfeeling?"

"I did her a favor, she may as well stop having that false hope that I will get better," Azula replied.

At the orphanage Aria was constantly picked on and ridiculed because of her mother's reputation. "She's such a freak," other people whispered. The other girls called her a psycho and bullied her. Aria was scrubbing the floor one day when one of the mean girls 'accidentally' knocked over the bucket of dirty water.

"Hey! I could have tripped over that!" the girl said indignantly. "You shouldn't leave things in the middle of the floor like that," she admonished.

The girl's name was Ming, the one who picked on Aria the most. She was always trying to get Aria in trouble with the headmistress knowing full well that Aria couldn't speak up for herself. A full 2 years older than Aria she was also stronger. Aria kept on scrubbing and looked at the mess knowing she would have to clean it up.

"Poor little bastard," Ming said looking into Aria's sad eyes her tone more mocking than ever. Aria just wished that Ming would go away, but Ming wasn't done yet. _Am I really a bastard? What is a bastard anyway? _Aria wondered then went back to her scrubbing. Ming took this as an insult. "I'm not done talking," she said loudly. "Just because you're related to Fire lord Zuko doesn't mean you're any more special than the rest of us."

Aria was confused. She didn't say or act anything of the sort and no special treatment was given to her. If anything she was the scapegoat. Even adults looked at her with scorn. It was as if her very presence was shame in itself.

"I see what you do every night. You sit on your bed long after everyone is asleep and stare at the moon with this hopeful look on your face as if you know someone's coming back for you," Ming's voice held the utmost contempt.

Aria ceased her scrubbing and Ming knew she hit a chord. Aria made eye contact with Ming something in her eyes shifted. Beneath the stare there was a hidden emotion of shame at the revelation of her secret. Ming had hit her target. A new feeling of anger and suppressed rage was festering in the bullied girl.

"Well no one's going to come for you. You have no father and your mother's a whore and it's no surprise who's going to be the next lifelong inmate of the loony bin," Ming taunted.

Ming wasn't prepared for the stinging slap that knocked her to the floor. Aria had wrestled Ming to the ground and repeatedly kept slapping her face and pulling her hair.

"Somebody help me! She's trying to kill me!" Ming yelled. Aria felt someone try to pull her off Ming.

"You little wretch!" the other girl yelled wrapping her arms around Aria's torso. Aria reached back and slapped her as well.

"Get the headmistress!" a bystander yelled.

By now a small crowd had gathered. Ming was writhing around a hand over her injured mouth. Someone was finally successful at pulling Aria off Ming.

"You little villain, you psycho," the older girl said dragging her.

The headmistress pushed her way through the crowd.

"Clear away all of you!" she barked. "Explain what happened."

A witness stepped forth and told how it went down making it sound like Aria was at fault. The headmistress, Ching stepped over to the two girls.

"Who started this?" She asked coldly.

"I was cleaning the floor when Aria came in and started pushing me around for no good reason. She kicked over the bucket I was using to create a bigger mess," Ming glared fiercely at Aria.

"How could she do that? She can't talk, the headmistress said.

"She gets physical," Ming said.

Aria wished she could speak up, but she couldn't defend herself.

The headmistress turned to Aria, "Don't lie to me. Did you start this? Though neither answer will save you from a sound lashing."

Aria just stared at her feet and nodded with her head down. Ming grinned wickedly.

Later Aria was on her stomach letting another girl nurse to the welts on her back. The girl introduced herself as Ling and said she didn't like Ming either. Ling applied wet rags to Aria's welt covered back. The whip hurt more than anything Aria experienced.

"You really only made the situation worse you know, lashing out at Ming," Ling said gently. "But I will never forget the way Ming was floundering around like a fish." Aria smiled a bit.

"She shouldn't have said those things about your mother," Ling said. Aria silently agreed.


End file.
